(Screengrab via MS NOW)
MS NOW host Chris Hayes couldn't contain his laughter Monday night as he relayed President Donald Trump's attempt to explain the spiraling saga of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, calling the president's insistence that vandals destroyed his $14 million renovation "insane" and "the most perfect encapsulation" of his administration's approach to governance.
The pool, painted "American flag blue" ahead of the nation's 250th birthday, turned green with an algae bloom within days of reopening, and the new paint began peeling and floating to the surface. Trump had earlier boasted the coating was so strong "you couldn't cut it," even with a knife.
"You're not going to believe this, but Donald Trump shared his theory as to why," Hayes said, unable to hold back a laugh.
Now, Hayes noted, Trump claims someone did cut it, alleging a 250-foot gash that the host quipped "grows by 50 feet every time he's opened his mouth." On Monday, Trump put the figure at 350 feet and suggested, without evidence, that saboteurs used a box cutter and dumped fertilizer to grow the algae.
Hayes scoffed at Trump's conspiracy.
"This is insane! This is madness! No one's dumping things in the reflecting pool to grow algae! It's their own incompetent, corrupt failures blooming for all the world to see, cracking and floating to the surface. All of it!" shouted Hayes. "Just the most literal manifestation of how these people go about everything. And now they have to create this dark conspiracy and use the force of law to pursue it. These people are desperately seeking someone else to blame for Trump's malfeasance."
Trump's "antifa super soldiers outfitted in scuba gear" theory, as Hayes put it, has resulted in real-world consequences.
At least five people have been arrested, among them three-time Olympic canoeist David Hearn, 67, who told The Associated Press he simply reached in to feel the peeling material out of "scientific interest." Hearn faces a misdemeanor charge and was expected to appear in court on July 9.
Hayes pointed to the broader pattern emerging from the White House.
"When Donald Trump screws up, as he always does," Hayes said, "he needs" someone else to blame.
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